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Thursday, 2 January 2014

The Ministry of
Defence today scrapped the Rs 3,600-crore deal with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland
to supply 12 copters to fly top politicians. The 2010 deal was mired in
controversy and there were allegations of payoffs. “The Government of India has
terminated with immediate effect the agreement on grounds of breach of the
pre-contract integrity pact (PCIP),” the Defence Ministry said in a brief
statement.

The cancellation
came after a meeting between Defence Minister AK Antony with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh here earlier in the day, said ministry sources. The ministry had
sought the Attorney General’s advice on how to proceed in the case.

“The Attorney General said
that “integrity-related issues were not subject to arbitration,” the statement
said. However, to safeguard its interest against Agusta’s move to press for
arbitration, the MoD has appointed an arbitrator from its side. “The MoD has
nominated Justice BP Jeevan Reddy as its arbitrator,” said the statement.

Already, prosecutors in Italy
have discovered that Rs 360 crore were paid as bribes by the company to win the
contract in 2010. In February 2013, India had frozen the contract after the
arrest of top officials of the company. However, the firm had till then
delivered three copters.

Since then, the CBI has
registered a case against former Indian Air Force Chief Air Marshal SP Tyagi
(retd) and claimed that Rs 360 crore had been paid to 13 middlemen, including
Tyagi, his three cousins - Julie, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi - European middlemen
Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, besides some Indian
companies.

India signed the deal in 2010
after Agusta beat its US competitor. The Russians had opted out of the race.
After India froze the contract and asked why it should not be cancelled,
AgustaWestland, in November last year, sought arbitration in the matter.

Italian prosecutors suspect
kickbacks worth around 10% of the deal --- $ 67.6 million (50 million euros or
around Rs 360 crore at then prevailing euro-rupee exchange rates ) --- were
paid to Indian officials to swing the deal in favour of Agusta. The documents
have been shared with CBI. The CBI in its FIR alleged that cash was handed to
Tyagi's cousin, with more money funnelled via a web of middlemen and companies
in London, Switzerland, Tunisia, Mauritius and Chandigarh. In August last year,
the Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed out that the tender was tweaked
to suit Agusta. It has apportioned blame for the period when Tyagi was the IAF
Chief. It said former IAF chief Fali Homi Major allowed trials of helicopters
that were not even the ones that India was supposed to buy. It narrated how the
crucial flying ceiling was lowered from 6,000m to 4,500m allegedly after orders
from the Prime Minister’s Office in November 2003. In the revised request for
proposal issued in 2006, the mandatory “service qualitative requirement” (SQR)
was reduced.

Rs 3,600-cr contract

The government had entered
into a Rs 3,600-crore deal with AgustaWestland, a division of Italian defence
group Finmeccanica, for purchase of 12 helicopters to fly top politicians in
2010.

Payoff allegations

The deal went awry in February last year
after the then chief executive of Finmeccanica was arrested for allegedly
paying bribes to secure the deal, prompting India to freeze payments to the
company

India and Pakistan
today exchanged lists of nuclear installations and facilities and nationals of
each country lodged in other’s jails.

The list of
nuclear installations and facilities is exchanged by the two countries on
January 1 every year as part of an Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack
against Nuclear Installations and Facilities. The agreement, signed on December
31, 1988, came into force on January 27, 1991. This is the 23rd consecutive
exchange of lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place
on January 1, 1992.

Both sides also
exchanged the list of nationals lodged in other’s jails as part of an Agreement
on Consular Access between India and Pakistan. The agreement was signed on May
21, 2008, and is exchanged twice every year on January 1 and July 1.

Pakistan is
believed to have handed over a list of 281 Indian prisoners, while India has
reciprocated with a list of 396 Pakistani prisoners. As per the list, there are
232 Indian fishermen and 49 civilians in Pakistan jails. India has 257
Pakistani civilians and 139 fishermen in its jails.

Prisoners’ list

* As part of an
Agreement on Consular Access between India and Pakistan, the two countries also
exchanged the list of nationals lodged in each other's jails. The lists are
exchanged on January 1 and July 1 of every year.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140102/nation.htm#10

Mountain strike corps, its1st division raised

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi, January
1

The mountain
strike corps, aimed at countering China, was formally raised by holding a
"flag hoisting" ceremony at Ranchi today. The headquarters of 59
Division, under the Corps, was also raised simultaneously this morning. The
second Division, 72, will be raised at Pathankot later.

This is the first
corps to be raised since the 9 Corps was raised at Yol, near Dharamsala, in
2005.

It would take another
10 months to complete staffing and equipping of the 59 Division that would get
already established regiments, sources said. The regiments would be replenished
with new recruits as this corps would lead to force accretion and not draw from
existing forces.

Instructions have
already been issued for moving of regiments. Each of the Divisions will have
four brigades and a strength of around 30,000 each, including infantry,
signals, artillery, engineers, armoured and supply, besides helicopters. The
existing three strike corps at Ambala, Mathura and Bhopal have around 80,000
troops each.

The CCS cleared
the corps on July 17, allocating Rs 64,000 crore to be spent over the next
six-seven years.

Ranchi is the
temporary headquarters. The corps and the division will have their headquarters
at Panagarh in West Bengal. The IAF special operations aircraft, C-130 J Super
Hercules, will also be based there.

Maj Gen Raymond
Norohna has been designated as the first GoC of the corps that has been named
the 17 Strike Corps. Normally a strike corps is headed by a Lieut General rank
official. Maj Gen Norohna is slated for promotion as Lieut General and the file
for his appointment along with the promotions of 14 other Major Generals is
pending with the appointments committee of the Cabinet.

The board for
promotion was conducted on November 13 and since then the file has been moving
between the Ministry of Defence and the Army over some queries.

First since 2005

* This is the
first corps to be raised since the 9 Corps was raised at Yol, near Dharamsala,
in 2005

* It will take
another 10 months to complete staffing and equipping of the 59 Division that
will get already established regiments

* The second
Division, 72, will be raised at Pathankot later

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140102/nation.htm#11

Lt Gen Suhag takes over as Vice Chief of Army

New Delhi, January
1

Lt Gen Dalbir
Singh Suhag, who is tipped to be the next Army Chief, took over as the
Vice-Chief of the Army Staff today.

General Suhag, who
was commissioned in the Gorkha Rifles in 1974, has a long experience in
counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North East and had
participated in IPKF operation in Sri Lanka.

The Army had
announced the decision to designate Suhag, till now the Eastern Army Commander,
as the next Vice-Chief on December 12.

His fate appeared
uncertain after the then Army Chief Gen VK Singh imposed a discipline and
vigilance promotion ban on him while he was heading the 3 Corps in Dimapur.

VK Singh had
charged Suhag with "abdicating responsibility" in "a most
unprofessional and lackadaisical manner" while dealing with a botched
operation by an intelligence and surveillance unit under him.

The ban was
revoked by Gen Bikram Singh, when he took over as the Army Chief, paving the
way for Suhag's elevation as the Eastern Army Commander in June, 2012.

Gen Suhag has had
a tenure as a company commander in Operation Pawan, which was launched by the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.

He raised and
commanded 33 RR in Nagaland and later led 53 Infantry Brigade, which was
involved in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, an Army spokesperson
said. — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140102/nation.htm#13

Cold brings IAF’s
‘big bird’ to Chandigarh

While flying out
of the Chandigarh airfield, don't be surprised if you catch a glimpse of the
Indian Air Force's Big Bird, a C-17, parked in a corner.

The IAF's newly
acquired Globemaster III heavy lift aircraft has been stationed in Chandigarh for
undertaking sorties to the northern sector as winters have set in and many
roads have become non-operational.

Airlifting
supplies to the northern sector is primarily the responsibility of the
Chandigarh airbase, which is also home to an IL-76 squadron, an AN-32 squadron
and a helicopter flight that operates the world’s largest chopper, the Mi-26.

The American C-17
can airlift about double the load that can be carried by the Russian IL-76
strategic freighter, enabling the IAF to ferry in more material with fewer
sorties.

Having been in
service for less than six months and forming part of the Hindon-based 81 Squadron,
“Skylords” — the three Globemasters that have arrived from the US so far — are
already making their presence felt. Besides other tasks, a single C-17 recently
airlifted an infantry battalion to Port Blair.

Colonel’s Deadly
Scoop

For hockey
enthusiasts, there is a new treasure trove of rare old photographs, news
clippings, messages, analysis and anecdotes in the form of

a coffee table
book brought out by Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Col Balbir Singh.

Titled “The
Colonel’s Deadly Scoop”, the profusely illustrated book recounts in detail the
journey of Indian hockey, detailing its triumphs as well as moments of crisis,
life in uniform and the role played by the army in promoting the sport.

The author, who in
his own words “made playfields his battlegrounds as he did not get a chance to
go to war”, hails from a fourth-generation military family from Sansarpur in
Punjab. His grandfather had fought in the First World War, his father battled
Rommel’s tanks in the deserts of North Africa in World War-II and later fought
Pakistani raiders to save Srinagar in 1947 and his son now serving with the
Parachute Regiment.

Women behind Tejas
success

A few weeks ago,
the Tejas light combat aircraft was granted ‘initial operational clearance’ to
enter IAF service. A host of women engineers played vital roles in the
development of the indigenous light-weight fighter. Some of these women
engineers have been working for decades in the male-dominated Indian aviation
industry and have been associated with Tejas as well as other aircraft design
and development projects for several years.

Many among them
have reached senior positions in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the state-owned
unit engaged in production of the fighter. Two engineers, Chandrika SK and
Shardha K are working as deputy general manager and assistant general manager,
respectively, with HAL.

Several among them
also had opportunities to travel abroad to France and Russia in connection with
the development programme and accompany the Tejas during field trials. In fact,
the design team for the Tejas’ trainer two-seat trainer variant was led by
women engineers Poongothai and Mamatha K.

Sportsman General
in Jaipur

In their new
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Jaipur-based South Western Command has
a sportsman who has donned Indian colours.

Lt Gen Arun Kumar
Sahni, who took over as Army Commander on December 31, is a sportsman of
standing.

Belonging to the
Regiment of Artillery, Lt Gen Sahni is an accomplished horserider and a polo
player, who has represented the country in polo and equestrian events. Now
hopes are high that Army polo teams will get spurred on to do even better.

As a military
professional, he has served as the Additional Director General, Military
Operations, in Army Headquarters, where he was responsible for force
structuring and operational preparedness of the Army. He also had a stint as
Assistant Military Attaché at Embassy of India, Moscow, for three years.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140102/edit.htm#4

Stabilising
volatile borders

Hopefully, recent
moves by India and Pakistan will preserve the sanctity of LoC

G. Parthasarathy

A BSF soldier
patrols along the border fence at an outpost in Suchit-Garh, near Jammu.

The return of
Nawaz Sharif to power in Pakistan was marked by pious statements by him on
peace and stability on the one hand and by inflammatory rhetoric describing
Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein” on the other. Whether it was at the UN in
New York or at the White House, Sharif chose to return to his stale rhetoric of
Kashmir being the “core issue” between India and Pakistan, implicitly asserting
that there could be a nuclear holocaust unless Pakistan reached a satisfactory
solution to the issue with India. This rhetoric was accompanied by the
unleashing of an old Sharif family retainer Hafiz Mohammed Saeed to spew venom,
threatening conflict against India not only on Kashmir, but also for allegedly
diverting and depriving Pakistan’s people of their vital water resources. The
Pakistan army has augmented this diplomatic effort, by claiming that it will
use tactical nuclear weapons in the event of Indian retribution to future 26/11
Mumbai-style terrorist attacks.

Sharif’s
apologists in South Block, of course, claimed that he cherished nothing more
than peace and harmony with India. Yet, Sharif’s return to power was marked by
195 cease-fire violations, with the Lashkar-e-Toiba even choosing to attack an
Army officers’ mess in the Jammu sector and with Indian jawans being beheaded
elsewhere, by infiltrators crossing the LoC. South Block did not do its
credibility any good by misleading the Defence Minister A.K. Anthony to first
claim and then retract from a statement he made, absolving the Pakistan army of
its sins. It was against this background that it was agreed at the New York
summit that the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs), would meet
and devise measures to deescalate tensions across the LoC.

Given their desire
for a civilian shield, behind which they like to avoid responsibility for their
actions on the LoC, the Pakistan army stalled on the proposal, by insisting
that delegations should by headed by civilian officials. But, they ultimately
had to yield when India insisted that the talks should be between DGMOs as
agreed to in New York. Firmness pays and the DGMO talks held on the Wagah
border yielded some positive results. The most important part of the Joint
Statement issued at Wagah on December 24 was agreement between the DGMOs to
“maintain the sanctity (of) and ceasefire on the Line of Control”. They also
agreed to make the existing hotline between them more effective. Two flag
meetings between Brigade Commanders on the LoC were also agreed to, for
maintaining peace and tranquillity across the LoC. The successful meeting of
the DGMOs was followed by a meeting between Commanders of the Border Security
Force and the Pakistan Rangers in which there was forward movement on issues
like effective use of existing communications and on illegal constructions
close to the border. Most importantly, people who cross the border
inadvertently, do not, hopefully, have to spend months incarcerated.

While some tend to
link these developments to the exit of the hardnosed General Kayani, this
ignores the reality that there is nothing to suggest that there is any change
in the Pak army’s long-term policies of supporting radical groups like the
Afghan Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, for promoting violence across
Pakistan’s borders with India and Afghanistan. It also now appears that there
are differences between the army and the political establishment on using force
against the Tehriq-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), in the tribal areas bordering
Afghanistan. Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan’s Tehriq-e-Insaf, which rules the
Pakhtunkhwa Province and Islamist Parties like the Jamat-e-Islami are all
opposed to the use of force against the TTP. But, the army has, interestingly,
commenced operations against the TTP, in North Waziristan.

This development
appears to suggest that after TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in an
American drone strike, the Sharif government has acquiesced in the military
operations in North Waziristan, as Maulana Fazlullah, the TTP’s new leader, is
known to be a fundamentalist hard liner. There also appears to be a deal
between the military and its long-term assets, Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin
Haqqani, that the operations against the TTP will not challenge the Haqqani
hegemony in North Waziristan, or reduce ISI support for their operations in
Afghanistan. This complex arrangement involving deals within deals, could well
fall apart, in which case, border management across the Durand Line will become
a nightmare. Thus, while Pakistan may find it expedient to observe the
“sanctity” of the Line of Control if things get out of hand on its
north-western borders, it could also revert to its old ways, if things cool
down in the tribal areas. India would be well advised to be prepared for both
eventualities.

The meeting of
DGMOs now sets the stage for India to insist with Nawaz Sharif that it expects
him to reaffirm his government’s commitment to the “sanctity” of the Line of
Control. He personally pledged to respect the “sanctity” of the LoC to
President Clinton when he rushed to the White House on July 4, 1999. During
this visit, Sharif implored President Clinton to bail him out, as Pakistan’s
Kargil misadventure was becoming a national and international disaster.

How should India
judge whether Sharif is going to respect the “sanctity:” of the Line of
Control? Sharif’s first term as Prime Minister was marked by using his
handpicked ISI chief, General Javed Nasir, to stage the Mumbai bomb blasts in
March 1993. During his second term, Sharif not only emboldened and gave
respectability to Hafeez Mohammed Saeed, but also set up a “Pakistan Gurudwara
Prabandak Committee” headed by General Nasir, to incite and subvert Sikh
pilgrims from India. “Khalistan” flags were fluttering in Sikh places of
pilgrimage in Pakistan, just after Prime Minister Vajpayee’s Lahore Bus Yatra.
A close watch is also imperative on Sharif’s approach towards these pilgrimage
groups and efforts to incite and revive militancy in Punjab. A policy of wait
and watch, with dialogue, if any, confined to terrorism, infiltration, trade
and economic relations and people-to-people contacts with Pakistan should
suffice, till a new government assumes office in India, after the coming
General Election.

AJMER: A day after
reports of FIR being filed against senior Army officers in Nasirabad came out
in the open, the Army provided a copy of its Court of Inquiry to the police.
The Court of Inquiry was ordered on December 15. The FIR was filed on December
19 after a local court directed to do so on the basis of a complaint filed by a
Lt Col who alleged that he was being harassed by senior officers for
questioning misappropriation of funds.

The police on
Monday also talked to senior officers in the cantonment and recorded the
statements of a few officers while others were found to be out of station. The
statement of the complainant, Lt Col Arun Kumar, was also recorded.

"Senior
officers of the Army provided us a copy of Court of Inquiry which was ordered
on December 15, before a complaint was filed in the court by the
complainant," said Ashok Meena, SHO of Nasirabad city police station.

Since the matter
is related to Army, police are also seeking guidance from senior police
officers to begin a parallel investigation. "It is Army's internal matter
and therefore we will also consider the report of the Court of Inquiry,"
said Meena.

Meanwhile, sources
said that the complainant, Lt Col Arun Kumar, during his posting in an
artillery brigade in Bikaner in 2002, was punished for "willful
disobedience of a lawful command" and accordingly he lost five years of
seniority. He was also severely reprimanded.

Defence
spokesperson Col S D Goswami said that the complainant was under treatment in
military hospitals for "persistent delusional disorder" from February
2007 to January 2013, after which he was declared fit for duty.

The Army,
meanwhile, did not provide him a 'sahayak' unlike given to other officers,
neither was he allowed to go home during his daughter's engagement.

Sources said that
Army on Monday gathered all records of Lt Col Arun Kumar and also the records
of 2002 when he was posted in Bikaner. Officials also gathered all papers of
treatment of Kumar since his recruitment and also records of 2007 onwards from
certain hospitals. "The Army will act on this issue after getting the
final report of the Court of Inquiry," said Colonel Goswami.

Meanwhile, sources
said that it was mishandling of the entire case by the Army which resulted in
the complainant approaching the court.

With the Army
allegedly dragging its feet, the Rajasthan police have launched an
investigation into a complaint filed by Keralite Army officer Lieutenant
Colonel Arun Kumar that he was being branded a lunatic for reporting corruption
by his superior officers.

The probe was
launched on the basis of a court order asking the police to investigate his
complaint.

The Nasirabad City
Police have filed a case against senior Army officers on the complaint filed by
Lt Col Kumar - hailing from Thiruvananthapuram - and attached to the HQ 374
Composite Artillery Brigade, Nasirabad. The police have listed as accused the
Commander and Deputy Commander of the 374 Composite Artillery Brigade, a
Colonel of the 212 Rocket Regiment, the Commander of the Military Hospital in
Nasirabad and the medical officer and officiating registrar of the hospital.

Circle Inspector
Ashok Kumar Meena, Station House Officer of the Nasirabad police station
(City), told Express that an investigation was on, and that his officers were
in the process of collecting statements from the Army officers concerned.

Express on July 1
had reported on the Army officer’s plight. Kumar had charged his senior
officers of persecuting him, and subsequently detaining him illegally in the
psychiatric ward of the military hospital, for reporting corruption in the
Army.

He also approached
the court earlier this year and shot off legal notices to top Army brass.
Shortly after that, he was discharged from the hospital and posted back to his
unit. In September, the Army had set up a one-man panel to look into his
complaint, but no action, allegedly, was taken.